Okay, so yeah. Thailand is intense.  Jesus is Awesome. And Glory to God.

Our first real day in Bangkok, we took a prayer walk through the Red Light district (during the day).  You could just feel the hurt, the pain, and the brokenness.  I’ve heard about “human trafficking” and “bar girls” but really had no idea what it’s all about. Even during the day you would see these beautiful Thai women serving as escorts and tour guides to rich men.  The looks on their faces made my soul mourn.

 

My heart especially breaks for the men who buy these women.  They’re just looking for someone to truly love them; someone to listen, someone who actually cares. While we were having lunch at McDonalds, there was a Thai woman sitting by herself at a table behind us. A tall white man with an ice-cream cone randomly came to her table, sat down, and tried to make small talk. The woman smiled, because in Thai culture one must try to please everyone (it is “The land of smiles”). After a while the man left, and the woman stayed. A few of us made eye contact, and my dear brother Nate said “I gotta do this,” got up, took the woman’s food tray and threw it out for her.  She smiled a different smile, a real smile, and we briefly greeted her with the love of Christ in our hearts and eyes.

 

It hurts to see all of these broken men looking for fulfillment and satisfaction in these women.  I know the answer straight up is Jesus. Without Him I’d probably be like the men we saw.  Right now t I have no idea how to reach them. Luckily hope for the women, however, is already being seen.

 

Yesterday we visited “The Well” ministry center. It is a ministry based on John 4, the woman at the well (who had 5 husbands and is living with another dude, Jesus talks of Living Water…).  It’s a ministry which builds relationships with bar girls, and when they independently decide to leave that ‘business’, “The Well” takes them in, does Bible studies and worship in the mornings, and teaches a local trade in the afternoon.  This is mainly crafts, jewelry-making, and sewing (a few of our girls bought amazing clothes there) [I spent my time helping to make awesome bookmarks and beaded hair-clips, it was awesome].  Eventually the hope is for the women to move back to their home village and provide for their families locally.  After seeing the red light district the day before, knowing where these women had come from, it was amazing to see hope and joy in there eyes.  We laughed almost non-stop.  Jesus truly changes lives.

 

Tonight we’re off to Buriram, a small village about six hours north of Bangkok, where we’ll be for about six weeks.  We’ll be teaching English at schools in the morning, doing after-school VBS-style lessons, and building deep trust in personal relationships with the locals in the evenings. We also have some community outreach programs planned with dramas and messages and such, which should be awesome.  I can’t wait!

 

For fairly obvious reasons I didn’t take pictures in the redlight district or of the girls at the Well.  BUT, I did take pictures of something really really important: food.

 

This is a rambutan, one of the craziest fruits I’ve ever had. It tastes like a mix between a plumb and a grape, with an almondy-ish-tasting seed in the middle which you're not really supposed to eat.